Question

It is one of the oldest magic tricks in the book—a magician locks a woman in a box, with her head and feet sticking out from either end, and saws (锯) it in half. But when she finally jumps out of the box, the woman is unharmed.

This trick was introduced nearly a century ago. It has been around for some time, but it never goes wrong. Why is it so successful? The answer is simple: the human mind is easily fooled.

Our brain processes the world around us based on information that sensory organs, including the eyes, pick up. For instance, when we see a cow or a horse standing behind a tree, we automatically “fill in” the part of the animal’s body that is hidden from our sight. “So the brain is taking this kind of very sparse (匮乏的) information about the world and it’s generating this rich world by filling in information,” Stephen Macknik, a scientist at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona, US, told Science magazine.

But since our brains are filling in the gaps, sometimes they get it wrong. They tend to be driven by our previous experiences and we expect things to go as they have in the past even if sometimes they do not.

This tendency explains magicians’ success in fooling people with well-known coin tricks. For example, when you see a magician throw a coin up and down in one hand and then fake a coin thrown to the other hand, you would naturally believe that the coin is in the other hand.

Apart from the information gaps, magicians also use the “blind spots” theory when doing their shows.

The most well-known experiment demonstrating this theory is called the “invisible gorilla (大猩猩)”, in which volunteers watch a video of two basketball teams. They are asked to count how many times the teams wearing white shirts pass the ball. In the meantime, a person dressed as a gorilla walks onto the court. But shockingly, half of the viewers don’t notice the gorilla, even when they appear to be looking directly at it.

Magicians employ this tactic (招数), what they call “misdirection”, in almost every one of their acts. They direct our attention somewhere else using comedy and music, which can make us miss stuff during the performance.

1.The magic trick is mentioned in the first paragraph to ________.

A. introduce the steps of the magic trick

B. prove magic tricks seldom go wrong

C. reveal how magic tricks are designed

D. get us to wonder how magicians trick the mind

2.We can conclude from the passage that the human mind is easily fooled because our brain ________.

A. may have difficulty remembering what we just saw

B. fills in information about the magic world

C. is influenced by our previous experiences

D. processes far more information than our sensory organs pick up

3.What does the underlined word “invisible” in paragraph 7 refer to?

A. Unnoticed.    B. Unimportant.

C. Unpleasant.    D. Unprepared.

4.During the “invisible gorilla” experiment, people watching the video ignore the “gorilla” because ________.

A. they don’t look directly at it

B. they are not interested in it

C. they are too focused on counting

D. they consider it to be a distraction

5.Why do magicians usually use comedy and music when they play magic tricks?

A. To get viewers to stay focused on the show.

B. To make the show more fun and exciting.

C. To draw viewers’ attention away from a secret action.

D. To create information gaps between magicians and viewers.

Answer

1. D

2. C

3. A

4. C

5. C

【解析】

本文为说明文。文章介绍了魔术表演的原理及技巧。

1.推理判断题。第一段中提到最古老的魔术之一——魔术师把一个女人锁在一个盒子里，把她的头和脚从两端伸出来，锯成两半；但当她最终跳出盒子时，她并没有受伤。目的是为了引起读者的兴趣，让人们思考魔术师是怎么做到的。故D选项正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第四段中的They tend to be driven by our previous experiences and we expect things to go as they have in the past even if sometimes they do not.（它们往往是由我们以前的经验所驱动的，我们期望事情会像过去一样，即使有时不会）及第五段中列举的魔术师的硬币戏法可推知，人类的大脑很容易被愚弄，因为我们的大脑受我们之前经历的影响。故C选项正确。

3.词义猜测题。根据第七段中的But shockingly, half of the viewers don’t notice the gorilla, even when they appear to be looking directly at it.可知，一半的观众并没有注意到打扮成大猩猩的人，即使他们看起来是在直视大猩猩。由此可知，invisible意为“没被注意到的”。故A选项正确。

4.推理判断题。根据第七段中的They are asked to count how many times the teams wearing white shirts pass the ball.可知，这些观众被要求数穿白衬衫的队伍传球的次数，应该是太专注于计数而没有注意到“大猩猩”。故C选项正确。

5.细节理解题。根据最后一段中的They direct our attention somewhere else using comedy and music, which can make us miss stuff during the performance.可知，魔术师们用喜剧和音乐把我们的注意力从一个秘密动作上转移到其他地方。故C选项正确。